Merit Award, 2007 Christianity Today Theology/Ethics Book With every earthquake and war, understanding the nature of evil and our response to it becomes more urgent. Evil is no longer the concern just of ministers and theologians but also of politicians and the media. We hear of child abuse, ethnic cleansing, AIDS, torture and terrorism, and rightfully we are shocked. But, N. T. Wright says, we should not be surprised. For too long we have naively believed in the modern idea of human progress. In contrast, postmodern thinkers have rightly argued that evil is real, powerful and important, but they give no real clue as to what we should do about it. In fact, evil is more serious than either our culture or our theology has supposed. How then might Jesus' death be the culmination of the Old Testament solution to evil but on a wider and deeper scale than most imagine? Can we possibly envision a world in which we are delivered from evil? How might we work toward such a future through prayer and justice in the present? These are the powerful and pressing themes that N. T. Wright addresses in this book that is at once timely and timeless. Included with the book is the companion DVD, Evil. Filmed in Israel, South Africa and England, Evil confronts some of the major issues of our time, from the Christmas Tsunami to the African AIDS pandemic, from the Iraq war and 9/11 to the murky world of violence and sexual exploitation, and puts them under the biblical spotlight. In this 50-minute film Wright explores, with Desmond Tutu in South Africa, the potential for defeating evil. There is a solution to the problem of evil, he says, if only we have the honesty and the courage to name it and understand it for what it is.

From the Publisher&colon;

Features & Benefits

* Comes to grips with the reality of evil in the world

* Does not minimize pain, suffering or wrongdoing

* Looks at modern views of evil, what they have to contribute and where they fall short

* Considers the biblical story through the whole of the Old and New Testaments

* Offers tangible ways forward that we can respond to evil and work toward defeating it

About the Author&colon;

A prolific writer of both scholarly and popular books, N.T. Wright has written over thirty books, including Simply Christian, The Original Jesus: The Life and Vision of a Revolutionary, What Saint Paul Really Said, The Challenge of Jesus and The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions. His magisterial work, Jesus and the Victory of God, is widely regarded as one of the most significant contributions to contemporary New Testament studies. His N.T. Wright For Everyone Series includes commentaries covering the whole New Testament. Formerly bishop of Durham in England, Wright is research professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He was formerly canon theologian of Westminster Abbey and dean of Lichfield Cathedral. He also taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Gregorian University in Rome and many other institutions around the world. In addition to his many books, Wright reaches a broad audience through his frequent media appearances. A sought-after commentator, Wright writes frequently for newspapers in England, including the Times, the Independent and the Guardian. He has been interviewed numerous times by radio and television broadcasters on both sides of the Atlantic, including ABC, NBC, CNN, PBS and NPR.